Forgive me for my grammar in advance. This is not the typical SimplyMei blog post in which I rough draft, re-write, and edit over multiple times. This blog post is not about having the perfect formatting. This blog post is not even designed to be enticing or entertaining. This is a spur of the moment, written post that I wrote less than 30 minutes ago.
If we, as a united people, don’t get our acts together and stop fighting each other we don’t have to worry about the terrorist and security threats. We will destroy ourselves. To my people that believe there is a God, I want to speak directly to you today. You very well may not be part of the fighting that’s going on in the world today. In fact you may be praying nights on end for the fighting to cease, but didn’t God challenge us believers to go out and be a disciple to the world?
You can’t just stay in your houses anymore and not practice what you are learning and preaching. You have lost sisters and brothers that need you!
You don’t have the option to be silent.
What does James 2:14-26 speak on? My Christian friends know that according to this verse that faith without WORK is what? … Dead. God gave us believers, whether you are religious or spiritual, the commandment of love. He said it is not enough for you to just believe without putting work behind it. For us that love Him and pray to Him but are not getting out into the world showing what the wonders of His love can do, you ought to really do some self-evaluation. It is your love that commands peace to be still.
Containing your love in a box is not going to cut it during these times. Get outside of your church meetings and go door to door spreading the goodness of His love if you have to. You have some hurt people in this world (that have justification for their natural feelings of hurt) that need your comfort before their hurt manifest into anger. You have some evil spirits in this world that need to be defeated with God’s love -- that is a battle you shouldn’t be fighting on your own.
I’m not calling on just black believers. I’m calling out people of every race that claim that they believe in God and His love. It’s time to get our prayer warriors out into the world and start making some changes. If we don’t spread love then you may as well brace yourself for the inevitable -- complete chaos.
Let’s not sugar coat the reality any longer. Today, you have black babies with toy guns, black men selling cds, black boys wearing hoodies, and more that are losing their life NOT because they resisted but because they were a target the minute they left their doorsteps. They were a target as soon as they were born because they were born brown. Their skin color alone is a threat, so despite if they comply with bad cops or not there will be white officers that perceive danger before these black males even open their mouth.
If we took time to learn about our neighbor and understand our neighbor then there wouldn’t be so much misperception. Misperception and fear of the unknown go hand in hand.
You have black moms that don’t know if their son is going to come home at night. You have black moms that taught their kids about a system that is designed to protect and serve who are now regretting their words because that same system took their husbands -- senselessly. You live in the days where you as a black woman can end up dead somehow from an encounter that started as a failure to signal.
Yet and still, to try to keep some type of peace some African Americans comply, accept, and conform:
Comply even if an officer is wrongfully targeting you because you’re black.
Accept the facts. For example, no matter how hard you work you’re still paid below the dollar because you’re black
Lose the dreads and things that make you, you so that you can be more professional -- because to “look black” is unprofessional. Conform to “what’s acceptable”.
It’s almost like sedating a giant group of people. It’s like telling a people, the African American people, you can exist but not without limitations and “but’s”. You can have a magnitude of extraordinary greatness but it needs to be contained and properly sedated to a certain degree.
There have been killings with no remorse. Yesterday I watched a man die live and instead of the officer calling for help, he watched the man die slowly with his gun still pointed. His girlfriend watched him. Their child watched him.
It was cold.
It was a different kind of evil.
Following, I watched all of my African American friends cry out for support. I watched as they waited to be embraced with love just like love was flowing for Orlando. I waited for the facebook to present the option to change profile pictures in support of this tragedy. We get the “I love you mom” on Mother’s day facebook and the rainbow colored profile picture to support the LGBT community (whom I love like my own family)… but there was no national outcry over the innocent killing of two black men. There was no comfort in the workplace that openly discusses “inappropriate” topics any other time like the Orlando shooting.
Where was the outrage?
Where were the apologies?
Where was the support for my population of colored people?
Where was the out poor of love?
Instead videos were deleted from social media as if reality was trying to be erased. Sorry but you can’t hide facts or conceal the truth. The country is in turmoil right now.
Then last night….
I watched in horror as the giant (the people you tried to put to sleep) woke up. Attackers had tried to keep this giant sedated. He was tired of being angry. He was tired of hurt. He was tired of not being cared for. He was tired of no love. He was tired of being docile. He was tired of complying. He was tired of conformity. He was tired of doing everything right only to still be viewed as inferior -- to be preyed upon still. He was tired of watching his brothers and sisters die. He was tired of burying his babies. He was tired of living within lines set by his attackers.
The giant had been attacked for decades. Just when he thought he had won a victory in the 1960s, he soon found out that this was not true. Prior to the 1960s his attackers were visible. After the 1960s, his attackers grew smarter. They removed the leash from the giant and allowed him to roam and contribute to society. They allowed him to think he was free. As long as he didn’t make too much money and followed their rules, the giant was considered okay because he contributed to society. His attackers still had the control and power.
But how long can you endure the treatment of being demoralized, dehumanized, and targeted before you snap?
The giant didn’t want to turn his attackers into slaves. The giant could care less about power and control. The giant didn’t want to put a leash on those that attacked him. He didn’t want to give them rules. He just wanted his attackers to stop treating him so badly so that they could learn to co-exist. You see, the giant was willing to forgive his attackers for past grievances but the attackers were unwilling to let go of their power hungry ways. They refused to see the giant as equal. They kept picking at the giant.
The giant woke up and retaliated last night. As a child of God, I don’t agree with violence. I understand the anger. I really do. I can’t imagine if it was my own black son murdered senselessly. I don’t agree with innocent lives, white police or blacks, being taken for no reason.
..But do I feel that giant’s pain? Do I sympathize with the giant that tried his best to conform to a world that hated him? Do I hurt for the giant who was considered a threat from day one? Do I hurt for the giant that won’t ever win in a world not designed for him to flourish in? Do I weep for the giant that has lost family and friends because they didn’t look like everyone else? Do I feel for the giant that can’t wake up and say “I don’t want to be a giant anymore”? The giant can’t change who he is -- he will never be able to take off his brown skin.
Yes.
Prayer warriors there are some people in this world that do not like me because I am brown. Yet I refuse to become my oppressor. I refuse to have my heart filled with hate only to perpetuate even more violence. I refuse to give my oppressor “a reason” to attack me. I refuse to retaliate so that my oppressor can use that as an excuse to call my people tyrants. We are not that. I refuse to allow my oppressor to try to shift the focus from his wrong doings onto me as if I made him angry. You, oppressor, started this from day one. However, as a child of God I vow to stand firm and continue to spread love even when I don’t feel loved myself.
I know there are people that do love me. I know that not all white people hate me. Therefore, I won’t hate all white people because of the ignorant acts of some. I wouldn’t want my own race to be judged in that way. It is the thought that all black people are thugs that keeps this unnecessary fear alive. I refuse to adapt that way of thinking.
God, you told me that greater is in you than he that is in the world. I know people are tired of praying because their faith in this world is diminishing.
Believers this is your call to action. You need to go out into this world and remind them that they can’t be of this world. Restore their faith in a God that has the final say. I honestly don’t know the answer. Neither Alton nor Philando had fought hate with hate yet still lost their lives. I don’t know if protests, marches, and hymns are enough anymore.
However, I know that violence isn’t the answer either. We, the people that believe in equality (whatever color you are), are better than those filled with incomprehensible hate for no reason.
If you are black and have been silent, wake up.
If you are white and have been silent, wake up.
I don’t care what race you belong to. I beg you to speak up and defend what is wrong. The treatment of African Americans in this nation is unjust.
We have to coexist. Either we will learn to live peacefully or die together like fools.
Believers, your purpose is being challenged more than ever. It takes a true lover of God to keep love in his/her heart. It takes a true lover to remind others of peace when they feel like succumbing to their emotions of anger. It takes showing love to gain love. It takes a strong person to stand firm during all of this trouble. People can’t find their way right now or make sense of anything.
I’ll have many people that will dislike this post. I’ll have many people say that my post is outlandish and too fairytale. I’ll have people to even curse God’s name and curse prayer. The thing about me is that I am willing to stand alone and stand firm.
Are you ready to be a real light?
Light and darkness cannot exist together (good and evil).
Which one will you let win?
Ps. If you remain silent, understand, your choice is being heard loud and clear.